Angels in Amherst
by PinkTeaRose
Summary: River goes in search of the Doctor, but instead finds a rip in time and space that even he can't fix.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I will be updating my other stories very soon! Thanks for continued love and support!**

**Title: **_**The Angels in Amherst**_

**Summary: River goes in search of the Doctor, but instead finds a rip in time and space that even he can't fix.**

**Rating: M for later scenes**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the overarching plot. Characters, ect. are the property of BBC, ect.**

**Xxxxxxx**

There are certain points in time that are fixed.

This is a law of the universe, and it is not to be broken- even by those who have the power to alter such events.

Those, of course, being the Timelords.

River Song was no exception to this rule.

She more than most, perhaps, understood the value of history—of things that are written in stone, unchanged, forever.

Her life, being backwards and forwards and incredibly tangled, had no such linear distinctions as that of the archives and papers she now found herself pouring over.

A new point in time was approaching.

November 21st, 2014. Amherst, Massachusetts.

She had signed on to be a guest lecturer at the university there, her topic being Roman Archaeology, and she could use her spare time to investigate the circumstances surrounding this obviously important point in time.

How did she know it was important?

Since she could remember, River always had inclination to look around things she shouldn't. Such tendencies, always in the forefront when she was working, had been in full force when she'd stumbled upon the Doctor's library.

A large room tucked away in the southern (or was it northern?) corridors of the TARDIS, River had found a curious book full of seemingly random dates. Not knowing what they meant, she had grabbed her phone and snapped pictures of the first few pages.

"_Rivah!" The Doctor called. "Come back to—" She spun around, closing the book ever so quietly behind her back._

"_What are you doing snooping around my things? These are very important, very necessary, very- thingy things!"_

_River laughed at her Doctor's disheveled state. He was wearing a black robe that tied loosely around his narrow frame and his hair was unkempt from the night before._

"_Thingy things? Is that a technical term?"_

_He shook his head and moved forward, finger extended to bop his wife gently on the nose._

_Making his way to the desk, his eyes caught the book she'd spotted earlier. _

"_Oh, hello there! I haven't seen you in a long time!" The Doctor cooed._

"_Is it a journal?" River asked, feigning innocence. _

"_Ohhh, not just any journal River! These are fixed points in time! Well, at least the ones I could find. These are the one's I've found regarding… holes… in time in space."_

"_Holes?"_

"_Remember the crack in your mother's wall?"_

"_I do."_

_He flourished his fingers and flipped through the book. Finding the date, he showed the page to River. "See? There's the date for that." _

_Without his glasses, the dates were harder to see, and he moved away underneath a nearby lamp. "And here's the date we met in Manhatt-"_

_He stopped. _

"_River, River I'm sorry, is it still fresh?"_

_She shook her head and moved to hold his hand. "No, my love. It's been seven years for me."_

_The Doctor nodded, understanding. "I was wearing a new bowtie that day."_

"_I know."_

She sighed, missing him. That goofy face. Those bowties. That one god-awful fez.

A face she feared she'd never see again.

That was the trouble with a non-linear life. She kept meeting younger and younger versions of him and each time he knew her less and less—and the knowing glances between them were gradually becoming non-existent.

Selfishly, she hoped that if she kept investigating these fixed points in time, eventually she'd run into him agai.

And not just any version of him—_her _Doctor.

So far her investigations hadn't revealed a lot. Most points were the deaths of prominent individuals, turning points in legislation or some other legal decision, but nothing that would have warranted the visit of a certain Doctor.

This date, however, was proving to be one for her books.

All around Amherst there were disturbances in the time vortex, little pockets of distorted energy that were wreaking havoc on her vortex manipulator and her curls.

She remembered his words, that the dates weren't just fixed points in time, but _holes_ discovered in time.

There was something in the air, something so familiar she could almost taste it, but she couldn't figure out what it was just yet.

Grabbing her bag, she threw in her papers, journals, wallet, identification card, and a small laser gun. You know, just in case.

With one last glance around her tiny flat, she lifted her thermos off the table, switched off the lights, and headed out the door.

As she made her way to the stairs, an elderly woman caught her attention. The woman was sitting on the bench outside the elevator, reading the newspaper for the day. The headline on the front read:

**UNIVERSITY STUDENT MISSING, NO LEADS**_**.**_

She wondered if there was a chance that the student had been signed up for her lecture next week. She started to open the door to the stairway when the woman's voice stopped her.

"You're a teacher, aren't you? At the university?" She motioned toward her thermos. "I recognize the lettering."

River paused and nodded, "I am."

"You know this girl? This Laura Adams?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't. I'm not actually from here, I'm just visiting."

"Oh," the older woman said. "I see. Such a promising life. I do hope they find her-"

_Alive_, she insinuated, but did not say. River nodded. "I will see if I can find anything out, and I promise to let you know," she tried to sound reassuring.

"Sure, sure," the older woman said, and made her way back to her door.

River watched her retreat and then headed downstairs. As her feet hit the concrete steps, she wondered if Laura's disappearance had anything to do with the date in the journal.

If it did, Laura would have to have been involved in something far beyond Amherst, Massachusetts. Something large enough to make it to the Doctor's radar.

Once outside, she found a newspaper stand and paid the eight quarters for a copy. Scanning the article, she tried to pick out the pertinent information. _Laura Adams. Senior at Amherst College. Physics major. _

Physics.

If anything would prompt a response from a Timelord, it would be a human messing with the laws of physics.

_But thousands of students do this research every year!_ Her rational side argued. _No reason why this case is special_.

Shrugging off her concerns, she made her way to the bus stop and waiting for the B-Line to arrive. A man shuffled in beside her, smelling of old coffee and cigarettes.

"Done with your paper?" He asked River.

She nodded and handed him the stack. He withdrew the classified section and returned the rest.

"Thank you ma'am."

She nodded, his words cut off by the approaching bus.

Tucking away the paper, she made her way to the line and stepped up into the over-sized vehicle.

River began making her way to the back when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of blue- that blue she would know anywhere.

And before she knew it, she found herself throwing people out of the way, pushing, forcing her way back out of the bus and into the street.

"DOCTOR!" She cried, ignoring the protests of the people around her.

_Whatareyoudoingwatchwhereyou'resteppingexcuseyou!_

"DOCTOR!"

She heard the unmistakable grinding sound of the TARDIS, her engines revving up to propel its driver where he needed to go.

River dropped her coffee and ran forward, as if she could stop the time-traveling vessel by willpower alone.

But as she approached, the TARDIS faded away and she was left standing there, wondering if she'd actually seen the flash of blue or if her aching heart had wished it there.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So glad you are all enjoying! Here's Ch 2!**

Xxxxx

"Goddamn it!" River yelled, stomping her heel-clad food in protest. "God fucking damn it!"

She turned around and saw her coffee had managed to stay in its container, and the shiny thermos was lazily rolling back towards the curb. She walked over and picked it up.

"Hey lady, you gettin' on?" The bus driver hollered at River.

"Yes sir!" She replied, darting back onto the transit vehicle. "Thank you."

He grunted a reply and she found her way to the nearest available seat.

_So, _she thought to herself, _the Doctor is here, in Amherst. So I'm on the right trail after all._

River couldn't help but feel anxious. If he had in fact come here because of the date in the journal, then that did mean that something was in fact wrong with the time line. There had to be some hole, some disturbance, some whatever that was drawing him here.

Again, she wondered if Laura Adam's disappearance had anything to do with it.

Grabbing her paper from her bag, she scanned the local section. Not knowing what she was looking for exactly, she eyed the titles of various articles to see if anything popped out.

About two minutes into her search, she stumbled on a small two-inch story about a young man who had disappeared five days prior. The man, Donald John Harold, or "DJ" had gone missing after a wild night of partying in a local bar. Police were hesitant to investigate, given DJ's age and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, but his parents were insisting on a formal investigation.

Finding nothing else, River tucked the paper into her bag and withdrew her journal. Flipping to the nearest blank page, she wrote down:

_Laura Adams_

_Donald John "DJ" Harold_

Two people, both around the same age, and both disappearing around the same time. Sad, but not unheard of in this day and age.

The bus lurched forward and screeched to a halt at the corner adjacent to the university. Luckily, the school was kind enough to lend out a small, unused office space for River while she was preparing her lecture, and she appreciated the easy access to the libraries.

As she made her way through campus, her heels making a steady clicking sound on the cobblestone, she noticed a rather large truck impeding traffic near the art building. From the way it was positioned, it was neither on the street or the sidewalk, but rather a cumbersome in between, and pedestrians and cars alike were having trouble getting around it.

"Bit messy isn't it?" A small voice said.

Anna Lithgard, a forensic anthropology professor, had been one of River's friends in the academia world for nearly ten years. Anna had been the one to help River land a guest lecturer position here, and she had always been a good source of general information regarding teaching and anthropology.

River turned to meet her colleague's blue eyes. "Hi, Anna! Yes it is, quite. D'you know what's going on?"

Part of River ached when she looked at Anna, because she knew this would probably be the last year she'd ever see her. Not by choice, of course, but not aging (and in fact aging in reverse) after ten years becomes slowly but surely noticeable, and River found it easier to drift in and out of people's lives rather than deal with the onslaught of inevitable inquiries regarding her appearance.

Anna lit a cigarette. "Some art professor is doing some sort of project dealing with statues and he had to order a lot of rocks or something like that. You should have seen it last year when he decided that steel rods were his new medium. Blew the entire budget in two weeks."

"Why's he still here?" River asked incredulously.

"Tenure," she replied with a shrug.

"Ah, I see. What kind of rocks?"

"Beg your pardon?" The blonde looked perplexed by the question.

"Like, granite or marble?"

"Hell if I know. I only heard about it through the grapevine."

"Ah."

Anna paused in front of their office building. "You heard about the disappearance?"

"I did. You know her?"

Anna shook her head. "No, but the physics department thinks very highly of her, apparently."

"It's sad."

"Isn't it?"

Anna took a few more drags before stubbing it out.

"Do you know about another disappearance that happened about five days ago? A man named DJ?"

Again the blonde shook her head. "I don't really watch the news very much. Really don't read the paper. I only knew about Laura from the university email."

River nodded and pulled open the door. "I'm sure in your line of work you see enough as it is,"

"I do, yes, and normally I get the nasty ending of it all." As a forensic anthropologist, Anna normally consulted on various cases in the larger area surrounding Amherst. Though not contracted to do so, she had begun working with the coroner's office at the request of the chief medical examiner. Apparently her reputation as a competent professor had followed her, and though her dissertation had focused on forensic anthropology as it applies to archaeological finds, the medical examiner still felt that her expertise was valuable to certain criminal investigations.

"Dr. Lithgard!" A voice called out, and a student with bushy brown hair appeared at her side.

"Dr. Song, catch you later?"

River smiled and waved and continued towards her office. Facing the southern side of campus, the tiny little space did have a beautiful view.

Sighing, she sat down heavily at her desk, placed her thermos in the corner, and began working through her lecture notes.

The Romans. Her mother's favorite. Her father had even been a Roman at one point in time. Oh, how she wished she could give a lesson on the Pandorica—_now __**that**_ _would really be a lecture for the ages! _She mused.

But instead of dwelling, she focused her thoughts to the task at hand and began editing and revising the many pages before her.

Xxxxxxx

When the sun had begun setting in the sky and the blue had given way to orange, River laid down her pencil and slowly rolled her neck. Stiff from the hours of writing, she felt the tension in her shoulders protesting at the sudden movement.

Knowing that she'd worked as long as she could stand, she gathered up her things and shut down her computer. Once her binders and books were in place, she forced her empty thermos into the remaining space and grabbed her keys. With a final glance backwards, she flipped off the lights, closed the door, and locked it for the night.

Even though it was relatively early, the campus was much more quiet than it had been this morning.

A few students meandered here and there, some looking as if they'd been through hell and back, others as if they'd been enlightened by some higher knowledge. That's how it normally was at a university, she mused, those who are drowning either from lack of sleep or alcohol, and those who were practically feeding off of the academic energy pulsing through the ivory halls.

"And then there are those who balance learning with drinking and grow up to be beautiful women. Hello, Dr. Song."

That voice.

That voice she'd know anywhere.

"Hello, Sweetie."

Xxxxxxxx

**A/N: Ok, so a bit of an exposition chapter, but I wanted to get something out to everyone! I think this is going to be a 20ish chapter story… **


End file.
